Yeah. I haven’t been posting in this space much lately. Thing is, my feelings have become mixed when it comes to plant based living.

Nah. I love the lifestyle. I enjoy knowing my environmental footprint is small. The ethics of it are outstanding when it comes to animal welfare. But, what trips me up are the health claims.

About the time I get going on this lifestyle, which is a challenge with around 2/3 of my colon gone, a new video pops up by a respected person in this field claiming to have reversed a deadly disease. Then many of my plant based cohorts appear agog claiming to be disease proof.

Some claim to have reversed cancer. Others say they never get so much as a cold. Another person thought she cured her MS. Unfortunately, she didn’t.

That’s all fine and good except when it isn’t all fine and good.

Truth for me? I lived this lifestyle for ten solid years before I was diagnosed with stage 2 colon cancer. This way of living didn’t slow down my tumor in the least. In fact, my markers were sky high at the time of my surgery.

Again… none of that is really important. But when I mention this to some of my plant based friends they often reply that I “must not have done it right.”

Sigh.

So… yeah. I’m a tad frustrated. Even my pleas to “trust that the diet will reverse your condition, but verify it’s working by listening to your family doctor” is apparently controversial.

Good lord. When did our family docs become some kind of health enemy? That’s just weird.

My family doc saved my life. Had he not suggested preventative screening, they never would have found my tumor. Had they not found the tumor and removed it (along with over half my colon), I would have been inoperable in two years, dead in five. That’s the sobering truth.

Even more sobering? Instead of writing this post, I very easily could be planning my funeral. Literally.

And all the healthy eating in the world didn’t affect that reality.

So, why am I still here?

Because I love plant based living. I enjoy vegan cooking. I worked hard to become a vegan chef. The recipes I’ve developed represent some of my favorite projects.

Everything about this lifestyle is tremendous.

And so, I continue. But I don’t want to feel ashamed for acquiring a cancer diagnosis. So, I’m coming clean. Right here, right now.

I’ve gained some weight while unraveling this new digestive system of mine. But I *think* I’ve got it figured out. For now.

I was a strong plant based person for the ten years prior to the diagnosis. I just want to go on record asking that if you’re reading this, please take all plant based/vegan health claims with a grain of salt. Trust but verify the diet’s working.

Yes. This way of eating is super healthy. I’ll forever acknowledge that. But it doesn’t make you bullet proof.

Thanks for your continued support! It’s been a long, hard pull. But four years after my diagnosis, I’m able to tolerate this way of eating without too many issues. For that I’m REALLY grateful.

So let’s move on, eh? I don’t want my life to revolve around cancer anymore. While I’ve been healing, things haven’t gotten much better for animals, the environment, or our health. Eating junk isn’t wise.

The last time we spoke, I was dealing with my cancer diagnosis. So much has happened since then.

First, it appears as though certain claims that a vegan diet “turns off cancer” is a little premature. That’s OK. In this case, my whole “trust but verify” motto saved my life.

My point? After ten solid years of plant based living, I received my cancer diagnosis. Not only was it a diagnosis, it was a full fledged tumor throwing off activity markers right and left.

So yeah… even after ten years living this lifestyle, it didn’t stop, slow, or reverse my colon cancer. But that’s still OK because what this lifestyle provided was health, strength, and a very good healing environment.

Truth is… I still loved many aspects of plant based living and since that fateful day in ’13, I’ve struggled mightily to regain my previous lifestyle.

Turns out, after an extended right hemicolectomy, the removal of 1/2 to 2/3 of my colon, fiber wasn’t my friend. It took a lot of inner healing before I could even look at a plant without a dose of extreme gastrointestinal distress. To make matters worse, the ensuing pain resulted in a 40 pound weight gain.

That was rough. I felt devastated, wondering if I’d ever feel good again.

But time heals all, I suppose. Slowly, but surely I’ve lost that cancer weight and to my utter delight, I’ve had a great run (crossing fingers, hoping not to jinx this) experimenting with my previous lifestyle.

Long story short, here we are. 2017. I’m approaching my four year cancerversary with tremendous hope in my heart.

I’m hopeful that I can step out in faith and share this incredible lifestyle in this space.

I’m hopeful that the docs removed the tumor before it had a chance to spread too far.

I’m hopeful that in these past few years, more people have discovered the incredible healing power of plants.

I’ve got some great stuff coming up the pike. More on that later. In the meantime, as you can see from the pics, I’ve hit the kitchen again. My mix cookbook is nearly worn out because I use it so much.

After all, who has time to cook when life is knocking right outside the door?

If you love healthy baked goods, easy kitchen clean up, and don’t have time for complicated concoctions… if you love warm muffins, sweet cookies, savory casseroles, and more check it out.

The Simply Balanced brand introduced four flavors, which include Teriyaki “chicken”, Mushroom Miso “turkey”, Korean Barbeque “chicken” and Smokey Chipotle “chicken.” All four mouth-watering flavors can be found in the frozen foods section of Target and run for $3.99 a bag.

I wonder how many servings are included in each bag. Each bag appears to hold nine ounces of “meat” so we’re talking a little under eight dollars per pound.

So next time you’re feeling a little adventurous, head on over to Target and pick up a bag of these tasty meals. Not only are they a (arguably) healthier alternative to meat, but they are cheaper as well. Shake things up a bit and give these babies a try. If they’re not your thing, at least you tried something new!

Last I checked, poultry products don’t cost eight bucks a pound so this product doesn’t appear to be cheaper.

We’ve been playing with making our own seitan chicken and last I checked we got three 923 gram roasts (around two pounds) for around seven dollars. Plus the recipe we use is drop dead FABULOUS, easy, and quite fun.

That said, I’ll have to check to see if our local Target has these little gems in stock. If they do, I’m checking ingredients and will report back here.

It’s been a year and a half since my cancer diagnosis. I just finished my latest tests and so far, the numbers are coming back strong. Liver number? It’s good. Tumor markers? Nice and low. Food issues due to losing over half my colon? They’re not as horrid lately. (Yay!)

So, I’m cautiously resuming this little space on the Internet.

Thing is, I LOVE my Plant Based Life. Everything about it is awesome.

I love experimenting with recipes. I adore creating something so heart healthy, it easily fits within the American Heart Association’s guidelines… no cheating required.

For example, lately, I’ve been playing with seitan. Last night, I created an INCREDIBLE, huge pepperoni pizza that more than met those all important guidelines. It was really a fun ride. I ate two slices.

Best part? This morning, I stepped on the scale and was down another pound.

Yup, through the whole cancer thing, I gained around 25 pounds. Oh. Make that 19 as of this morning. I like not fretting about dieting. I just eat tasty food and let nature take care of the rest.

So, that’s how I feel today. I plan on posting here regularly. After a cancer diagnosis, I realized I need to focus on projects I love… like plant based living. I’ll talk more about that later.

I’ll be honest. I can’t take pictures worth a darn. So, when I can get someone like Janet Scott from Janet Scott Photography to snap pics of some of the recipes in our new Mix cookbook, I jump at the chance. Check out what she did with the gingerbread cake.

Now, I’ll admit to having a bit of bias towards wholesome, healthy, plant based fare. It’s naturally stunning and visually appealing. But wowzers. That woman can really snap pics.

It was a fun session and I used her pics for the cover of my first cookbook, “One Simple Baking Mix, 50 Fast Recipes for Healthier Cakes, Cookies, Treats, and Main Dishes plus 24 Bonus Single Serving Recipes.” Check out the project here.

As told by Mireille Silcoff in the mag­azine, EHE comes roughly in two forms: one’s aggressive and one’s not. So what the oncol­ogist at Dana Farber sug­gested – that she go about her life, and “let the cancer make the first move” – was a rea­sonable strategy, one that allowed them (patient and doctor) to find out, over time, what would be the nature of her par­ticular EHE.

Carr lucked out: She has the “good EH” as Larry David might say. So far, at least, she’s enjoyed a pro­ductive, enter­prising life with cancer.

Interesting, eh? She closes with this:

The danger is that readers and customers/followers may believe that her current well-being is due to her lifestyle choices. And that some people with the malignant form of EHE, whose emails she may not read, struggle with feelings of inad­e­quacy and defeat.

This whole cancer adventure has been fascinating. However, I promise we’ll get back to cooking and such real soon. After all the Pub Med tells me I can possibly prevent colon cancer from returning by…

Changing your diet and lifestyle is important. Medical research suggests that low-fat and high-fiber diets may reduce your risk of colon cancer.

But note the lack of implied promises. They don’t present any vegan magic, either. Reality is rarely definitive, but this advice mirrors that of my surgeon, RD, and oncologist. It’s good enough for me so I guess we’ll keep moving forward, eh?

I’m looking forward to some great high fiber, low fat, plant based recipes. After all, the science is quite strong for this type of diet aiding heart disease. It may (or may not) prevent cancer relapse, but heck, I’ve got nothing to lose, Plus, I just love the food. 🙂